Most automated disk transfer mechanisms use a vacuum puck to assist in holding a disk. Such vacuum apparatus requires a pump which is frequently noisy and poses a risk of introducing particulate matter into the ambient environment. Moreover, vacuum pumps produce local vibration which must be damped.
Some non-vacuum disk pickers are known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,000,651 shows a disk gripper which allows a pair of disk-gripping members to enter the central hole of the disk and then spread apart, holding a disk by outward pressure on a rim of a central hole and at the release of the disk, the disk holding members are pulled together, allowing the rim of the disk to slip over the compressed members. The entire apparatus is associated with a robot arm so that disks may be moved from one place to another once a disk is held securely in place.
Another automatic disk holder apparatus is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,468,111. In this case, disks are manipulated by edge contact in combination with contact with the center hole, as shown in FIG. 7 of the patent. Such edge and hole contact provides positive gripping for transport.
What is needed is a simpler, low cost system for moving disks, such as from a stack of disks to another location for reading, writing, copying, polishing, formatting, or other purposes.